Joining issue with Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) officials over a ‘boiler room incident’ that occurred on Wednesday, activist S P Udayakumar wondered how it could be called a minor accident. “From what we have been hearing, both from inside the plant and from various sources, some of the workers are so badly injured that the bones on their forearms are visible,” he said. “How can they say that this is nothing?” he asked, while on a visit to Chennai.

But he doesn’t blame them entirely. “This is the language nuclear authorities all over the world speak. Their attitude of concealment is the one they foster and this worries us. Both the plant and the Atomic Energy Department do not seem to want to inspire confidence in people by telling us exactly what happened,” he said.

“We will insist on a scientific committee to probe the accident and protest till a white paper is published,” he added.

While the fate of the injured had added to the worry lines of the protestors at Idinthakarai, Udayakumar maintained that India’s nuclear policy bothers him more at the moment.

“This simply affirms our belief that substandard products and inefficient expertise has been used in constructing the plant. And for a densely populated country like India, we cannot afford to have these kind of nuclear accidents,” he said.

His political affiliations with the Aam Aadmi Party aside, Udayakumar said they would approach both Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa as well as “whoever formed the next government at the Centre” to stop the commissioning of the third and fourth reactors. “We will take this up before Parliament and try to get the existing nuclear policy repealed,” Udayakumar said.